Godhra riots: Gujarat Govt to declare 228 missing persons dead

Ahmedabad, Feb 28 (ANI): The Gujarat Government is expected to update the death toll of the 2002 Godhra communal riots, with the end of the waiting period of seven years.

As per law, any person declared missing for seven years, can be declared dead.

If the 228 persons declared missing since 2002 are declared dead, the death toll will go up from 952 to 1180.

"We have prepared a list of missing people and sent it to the revenue department, which would declare the missing persons as dead," Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Balwant Singh said.he State Revenue Department would then send the details to the district collectorates for further processing.

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad collector Harit Shukla has informed that the final list of missing people from the police is awaited.

"Once we have the list, we will start the process of declaring them as dead, inform the civic authorities to prepare their death certificate and subsequently, compensation claims will be processed," he added.

The 2002 tragedy took place when the Sabarmati Express train was attacked by 500 Muslims. Fifty nine Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive.

So far, the death toll stands at 952. Another 228 are reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed and 606 children orphaned. (ANI)